Kirsty Muir misses out on freeski slopestyle medal by fraction of a point

The 21-year-old had been among the favourites in a strong field but finished 0.41 points off the podium

Kirsty Muir improved significantly on her final run but fell just short of a medal (David Davies/PA Wire)

Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir was denied by a bronze medal in freeski slopestyle by a mere four-tenths of a point, with the Scot in tears after the result.

Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud won gold - to the delight of a large Swiss contingent in Livigno - with China’s Eileen Gu and Canada’s Megan Oldham rounding out the podium.

21-year-old Muir looked excellent on the first half of her first run, the three sections of rails, but came unstuck on her penultimate jump - a double cork 1080 - and only scored 37.15, putting her in provisional 10th.

It left her with ground to make up on the favourites, and although she completed her second run it looked shaky at points, with the double cork continuing to give her grief, and was only enough for 63.01.

Recently crowned X Games champion in slopestyle, Muir produced a much better run on her final, make-or-break outing, but her face at the finish told its own story, and she looked up at the heavens in disappointment as the result flashed up: fourth.

Her fourth place is nonetheless an improvement on her previous result at the Olympics, fifth in Beijing 2022, and she remains a contender in the Big Air competition later in the Games - although that will be of little consolation after a difficult afternoon at Livigno Snow Park.

She was in tears as she was hugged and consoled by family after the competition, and kept her ski goggles on to speak to broadcasters.

She said afterwards: “I'm obviously a bit sad, a bit... not angry with myself, I'm not disappointed, but it's just a tough place to be, fourth. I had a bit of difficulties in the first two runs. I got a bit annoyed at myself after my second run, and I'm really happy that I managed to pull myself back to the moment before my third run. I'm proud I put a run down.”

She changed the troublesome second jump on her final attempt and explained: “On the second jump, I was trying for a mute grab in my double just because just makes it a little bit harder. I was really pushing for that extra boost that that might give me. Today it slipped away from me. So I went back to safety to just get a run down.

“It's hard to say how I'm feeling right now. I've got a lot to process. I'm obviously very proud of the other girls.

Mathilde Gremaud celebrates winning slopestyle gold (Getty Images)

“It was tough when [the second jump] wasn't working out for me, and I switched plans, and I'm proud that we did that, and I still put [a clean run] down, but it's hard. I just wanted this a lot.”

The experience was completely different from her Olympic debut four years ago, she said. “The last time I was 17, I put the tricks down to come fifth, the best I'd ever done them. I was so proud of myself. I was really maybe hoping for a podium [today]. You can never say that, because it's hard, and you just want to be thinking about the run that you want to put down. But I've felt in a lot better place with my skiing, and I felt like I had a lot more of a chance.”

Gremaud won gold with a huge score of 89.96, and was the only one of the favourites to handle the pressure of the occasion, putting down two excellent runs.

The 26-year-old could enjoy a celebratory victory lap, with a Swiss flag tied around her neck as a cape, as Gu, then sitting in second place, crashed on her final run and therefore could not improve on her score.

Gremaud was joined by Gu and Oldham on the podium (Getty Images)

Gu, who became the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Games in Beijing, took silver having earned a score of 86.58 on her first run, but looked far off her peerless best with errors on her second and third.

Canada’s Oldham had played it safe in qualifying and crashed hard on her second run on Monday, gingerly getting her feet to warm applause from the crowd. But she appeared undeterred by that and saved her best for last, with a third run score of 76.46 putting all the pressure on later stater Muir, and ultimately she fell just short.

17-year-old Avery Krumme, who had qualified fourth and expected to be in the mix for a medal, endured a torrid day at the office. She crashed into a rail on her all-important final run after two runs impeded by mistakes, and was in tears as she was applauded down the course.